When insulating buildings and installations, a frequently used insulation product is loosefill insulation material. In contrast to the unitary or monolithic structure of insulation materials formed as batts or blankets, loosefill insulation material is a multiplicity of discrete, individual tufts, cubes, flakes or nodules. Loosefill insulation material is usually applied within buildings and installations by blowing the loosefill insulation material into an insulation cavity, such as a wall cavity or an attic of a building. Typically loosefill insulation material is made of glass fibers although other mineral fibers, organic fibers, and cellulose fibers can be used.
Loosefill insulation material, also referred to as blowing wool, is typically compressed in packages for transport from an insulation manufacturing site to a building that is to be insulated. Typically the packages include compressed loosefill insulation material encapsulated in a bag. The bags can be made of polypropylene or other suitable material. During the packaging of the loosefill insulation material, it is placed under compression for storage and transportation efficiencies. Typically, the loosefill insulation material is packaged with a compression ratio of at least about 10:1.
The distribution of loosefill insulation material into an insulation cavity typically uses an insulation blowing machine that can condition the loosefill insulation material to a desired density and feed the conditioned loosefill insulation material pneumatically through a distribution hose. Blowing insulation machines typically have a funnel-shaped chute or hopper for containing and feeding the blowing insulation material after the package is opened and the blowing insulation material is allowed to expand.
It would be advantageous if insulation blowing machines could be improved to make them more efficient.